Choosing a name for your business is much harder than you might think. It will be the first thing people hear or see when they come across your business and it should leave people with a good first impression if you hope to turn some of them into customers.

No doubt you’ve already got a few ideas and are weighing up the pros and cons of each.  There are lots of things you need to take into consideration. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself before deciding on a name and stocking up on the branded coffee cups.

Is it available to trade under?

you are setting up a private limited company, you can’t use the same name that someone else has already registered.

You may also run into a bit of trouble if the name you want is too similar to another company’s. They might end up making a complaint. So it’s best to research this before you invest money in creating your website, branding material or shop signs. Changing these will be costly and time consuming if someone files a complaint.

You can check the Companies House register to see if your name is already taken here.

Is the domain available?

Ideally your company should have a website so it’s definitely worth thinking ahead and seeing whether your company name is available to buy the domain for. This is the URL for your website and the closer it is to your business name the better as it will make you easier to find.

One thing to be careful of here is that your company name reads well when written out without spaces. Sometimes company names that have a couple of words in them can end up spelling out something inappropriate when all the words are joined together in the URL.

Is it available for social media?

Take a look on social media websites to see if your company name is available throughout the various sites you might want to use. If it’s available then great, if not you could pick something similar.

Check who has already got your name and whether you can afford people getting confused with them or whether they are actually a similar company to yours and therefore are competition.

Is it easy to remember?

You want a name that’s easy to remember, spell and pronounce.  Make it as easy as possible for people to remember, talk about and search for your company online.

Just make sure you’re not picking something inappropriate or weird just for the sake of it. You won’t get the right kind of attention for it.

Try to get plenty of opinions on your business name. Test it out on people and ask them if they can remember it after having an unrelated conversation to see if it stands out enough.

Does it reflect your brand?

Does the name you want reflect your brand or persona or give some information about the business you’re running?

If you have a key word related to your business, then this will help your website appear better off in the search engine rankings because it will be relevant to what people are searching for.

You could ask people for their opinions on whether it fits the brand or selling point you’re going for. Ask them what comes to mind when people hear your business name.

What else should you consider before picking a business name? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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About The Author

Kara Copple

An experienced business and finance writer, sometimes moonlighting as a fiction writer and blogger.

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